Grace Greenwood
American | period = | genre = journalism, fiction, poetry, children's literature | subject = women's rights, abolition | movement = | spouse = Leander K. Lippincott | partner = | children = Annie Grace | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = }} Grace Greenwood was the pen name of Sara Jane (Clarke) Lippincott (September 23, 1823 - April 20, 1904), an American poet, prose author, and lecturer. 1 of the earliest women to gain access into the United States Congressional press galleries, she used her questions to advocate for social reform and women's rights. Life Youth Sara Jane Clarke was born on September 23, 1823 at Pompey, New York, to Deborah (Baker) (?1791-1881) and Dr. Thaddeus C. Clarke (1770-1854). Her family moved to New Brighton, Pennsylvania, where her father practiced as a physician. There she attended the Greenwood Institute, a ladies' academy, from which she may have taken her pseudonym. On October 17, 1853 she married Leander K. Lippincott, and they had a daughter, Annie Grace, born October 3, 1855. Her husband left the country in 1876 after indictment for land fraud. Career Greenwood's earliest writing was poetry and children's stories, which she published in local papers. In 1844, she drew national attention, at age 21, with a poem published in the New York Mirror. She wrote under both her given name and her pseudonym. In the February 14, 1846 issue of the Home Journal, The Wife's Appeal, a poem by Miss Sara J. Clarke, is published just above Tit-for-Tat, a story by Grace Greenwood. Her work was published frequently in the widely-read magazines of the day. Her poetry received significant critical attention. She became a prominent member of the literary society of New York along with Anne Lynch Botta, Edgar Allan Poe, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Horace Greeley, Richard Henry Stoddard, Andrew Carnegie, Mary Mapes Dodge, Julia Ward Howe, Charles Butler, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Delia Bacon, and Bayard Taylor, among others. By October 1849, Godey's Lady's Book listed her as an assistant editor and she was also editor of Godey's Dollar Newspaper. Her published collection Poems (1851) included passionate poetry and references to her intimate friendship to Anna Phillips, indicating an acceptance of intimate same sex friendships. She became a highly respected journalist and consistently argued for the reform of women's roles and rights. In 1852, she went to Europe on an assignment for the New York Times. Greenwood was the earliest woman reporter on the Times payroll. She joined the National Era, a weekly abolitionist newspaper, and copy edited the serialized original version of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin as well as writing columns, travel letters, and articles. Her staunch abolitionist views contributed to the ongoing national controversy. She also became a correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post. Nathaniel Hawthorne criticized her travel letters, calling her an "ink-stained woman" and claiming he could do as well. Despite this, Greenwood seems to have gotten along amiably with Hawthorne's family. She dedicated her children's book Recollections of My Childhood, and Other Stories to Julian and Una Hawthorne. In 1853, Greenwood and her husband started The Little Pilgrim, an American children's magazine. She was soon producing magazine articles and essays. After her husband fled the United States in 1876 to escape prosecution for misappropriation of government funds, Greenwood continued her writing and resumed lecturing in order to support herself and her daughter. Greenwood lectured extensively before and during the Civil War, giving particular attention to her abolitionist stance and to other social issues, such as prison and asylum reform, and the abolition of capital punishment. President Abraham Lincoln referred to her as "Grace Greenwood the Patriot". However, women's rights became the focus of her speeches, particularly after the war. Her writings from this period were republished in Records of Five Years (1867). By the 1870s, Greenwood wrote primarily for the New York Times. Her articles focused mainly on women's issues, such as advocating for Fanny Kemble's right to wear trousers, Susan B. Anthony's right to vote and all women's right to receive equal pay for equal work. Greenwood and her daughter moved to Europe around 1882. She worked for the London Journal, and also wrote a biography, Queen Victoria: Her Girlhood and Womanhood (1883). In 1887 she returned to the United States and lived with her daughter in New Rochelle, New York, where she died of bronchitis. on April 20, 1904. Grace Greenwood is buried in the Civil War section of Grove Cemetery in New Brighton. (requires interlibrary account access) Recognition Her obituary was on the front page of the New York Times, "proving her importance as a literary figure in the 19th century". Publications Poetry *''Poems. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields, 1851.Poems/Grace Greenwood, American Verse Project, University of Michigan Humanities Text Initiative. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. Prose *Greenwood Leaves: A collection of sketches and letters: Second series. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1852.Greenwood Leaves: A collection of sketches and letters (1852), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *Europe: Its people and princes, its pleasures and palaces. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1853.Europe: Its people and princes, its pleasures and palaces (1853), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. ** republished as ''Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1854.Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe (1854), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *''Merrie England'' (1855) *''Forest Tragedy, and other tales'' (1856) *''Bonnie Scotland'' (1861) *''Records of Five Years'' (1867) *''Stories and Sights of France and Italy'' (1867) *''Summer Etchings in Colorado'' (1873) *''New Life in New Lands: Notes of travel. New York: J.B. Ford & Co., 1873.New Life in New Lands: Notes of travel (1873), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *''Heads and Tails: studies and stories of pets (1875) *''Emma Abbott, prima donna'' (1878) *''Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood. New York, J.R. Anderson & H.S. Allen, 1883; London, S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1883.Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood (1883), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *''Stories for Home-folks, young and old (1884) *''Stories and Sketches. New York: Tait, Sons & Co., 1892.Stories and Sketches (1892), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. (with Rossiter W. Raymond) Juvenile *History of my Pets. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1851.History of my Pets (1851), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *Recollections of my Childhood, and other stories'' (1852) *''Stories and Legends of Travel and History, for children. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1857.Stories and Legends of Travel and History, for children (1857), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *''Stories from Famous Ballads (1860) *''Stories of Many Lands. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867.Stories of Many Lands (1867), Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 10, 2013. *''Treasures from Fairyland (1879) See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"The Poet of To-day" *Grace Greenwood at PoemHunter (67 poems) *Grace Greenwood at AllPoetry (68 poems) ;Books * * Works by Grace Greenwood at the Internet Archive. ;About *American Writer Biography: Sara Jane Lippincott *Grace Greenwood at Biography.com *Grace Greenwood at Portraits of American Women Writers *Sara Jane Clarke (Grace Greenwood) at Beaver County History *"Grace Greenwood" at the University of Virginia Category:American short story writers Category:American poets Category:American memoirists Category:American non-fiction writers Category:1823 births Category:1904 deaths Category:Deaths from bronchitis Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets